Elton John is writing his first book, a collection of memories and meditations on the fight against Aids. Love Is the Cure: Ending the Global Aids Epidemic, due in July, will be accompanied by an audiobook read by the singer.

"[Aids] is a disease that must be cured not by a miraculous vaccine," John wrote, "but by changing hearts and minds, and through a collective effort to break down social barriers and to build bridges of compassion." The singer said he wants to combat the stigma surrounding the disease, telling personal stories of friends he has lost – and those he has kept. These will include reflections on Freddie Mercury, the Queen frontman, who died of an Aids-related illness in 1991, and the teenage activist Ryan White.

"Why are we not doing more?" John asked. "This is a question I have thought deeply about, and wish to answer – and to help change – by writing this book." Hodder & Stoughton will publish the work in the UK, and Little, Brown in the US, with proceeds going to the Elton John Aids Foundation. Over the last 20 years, John's organisation has raised more than £145m for Aids-related initiatives.